


To be Frank

by Flowesque



Category: In the Loop (2009) & The Thick of It, The Thick of It (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tumblr, prompt, too-many-twelvies, yeah i know the title sucks i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 17:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6574786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowesque/pseuds/Flowesque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt (made by @auraticflow on Tumblr, who does it anyways):</p>
<p>Hmm. Let's try this. The Reader's a new person at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, and one of the guys tries to flirt with them, making them uncomfortable. The Reader politely says no, but they won't budge, and then Malcolm has to step in to stop them. They get into a little fistfight, and then Malcolm, bleeding, figures out that the guy was intoxicated. The Reader then helps Malcolm's wounds, much to his chagrin, but accepts it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To be Frank

**Author's Note:**

> First thing posted up on here, let's get this party started! Sorry if, ah, Malcolm seems a bit OOC. I'm still trying to work on how I write him.

It’s Monday.

You step into the building, looking up at the infamous wooden staircase. A deep breathe left your nostrils as you moved towards it, knowing full well that it was much faster than the lift. Plus, it could help if that man was around, watching you. From behind.

A light blush scattered across your cheeks before you shook your head hurriedly, dismissing the thought. Malcolm Tucker was not eyeing you at all, and that was that. You needed to get your head in the game, you were here to work!

You ascended the staircase, wrestling with your thoughts until you saw him.

Not Malcolm. Frank.

You mentally groaned as you approached. Frank was leaning up against the wall to the main DoSaC offices, clearly waiting for you. You forced on a smile as he waved, shooting you a wink.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Frank had that stupid ‘lady killer’ face on. Ugh.

“Hi, Frank.” You gritted your teeth as you briskly walked by, ignoring him patting your shoulder. The guy was nice at first, but you figured out he had something for you. According to gossip around the office, Frank tended to show up to work not quite right, and was a playboy. You say down at your desk, and moments later, he began his daily routine of trying to flirt with you.

—–

One week.

One full week of his nonsense, and now, one week and a day.

You groaned as you stretched in your seat, a small smile stretching across your features as the little digits on the clock spelt 5:00pm. Today was a long day. A major press conference, lots of paperwork, the stupidity of people like Glenn and Terri.. plus the photo copier refusing to work for an hour.

Yep. A normal, long day.

You packed up your belongings and headed to the staircase, stopping slightly when a slightly messy Frank turned the corner to see you. You growled. Right next to him was the clock out box. You would have to talk to him.

“Hello, Frank.” You put on a strained smile as you reached the machine. Frank smiled and leaned a bit heavily againdt the wall. Something was off. You pushed in your payroll number and he watched your movements.

“I know ya fancy me.” He said, a hint of something in his voice. You tried not to look at him while the machine scanned your fingerprint. “From the moment ya stepped in here last week, you fancied me.”

You looked around and mentally panicked. Nobody was about to see the two of you.

“I don’t.” You replied, the nervousness clear in your tone. Unfortunately for him, he took it in a different way.

“C'mon, don’t be shy. No one’s around. Admit it. You like me.”

“I said no, Frank. And if you don’t stop, I’m gonna–” You could not finish your sentence when Frank pushed you up against the wall. He breathed heavily into your face.

“What, tell our incompetent boss, Nicola?” Footsteps. He leaned in to whisper in your ear. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Oi, the girl said no, you pretentious fuck.” He was standing there.

Malcolm Tucker.

“Mind ya own business, ya old fart.” Frank snarled at at him. You glanced worriedly at Malcolm, who locked eyes with you for a second before turning his attention back to Frank.

“Boys like you make me sick.” Malcolm started, walking towards the two of you. “You should be fuckin’ ashamed of yerself, pinning an innocent girl to the wall like that.”

“And what are ya going to do about it?!” Frank whipped around to face Malcolm now. But the Director of Communications did not back down. His steely gaze grew stronger as you quietly shuffled away. Unforunately, Frank heard you. He stormed towards you and grabbed your wrist forcefully.

“Oi, get back he– AUGH!” He was cut off when Malcolm launched a jab to the left side of his face. Blinded by rage, Frank threw you to the ground and focused on Malcolm, the two getting into a small fist fight. You scrambled to your feet as Malcolm grabbed a fistful of Frank’s hair and yanked hard. Frank was pulled up even as he landed a solid punch to Malcolm’s nose, to which the spin doctor replied with a hard knee to the nuts. Frank shouted and cursed in pain as he collapsed, hands nursing his wounded pride.

“You.. you sick fucker.” Malcolm started, a hand pinching his nose hard to stop the nosebleed. The lower half of his face was covered in blood. “How.. fucking, DARE you waste of rotten human cock harass a co-worker, let alone a fucking newcomer! You absolute piece of human shit on two legs, look at his fuckin’ mess you’ve made.” Malcolm Tucker took a second to pause. “I’m going to shove yer cheap fucking champagne up yer arse so far that I’ll be able to chop you in the fucking chest and watch the foam spray out. You shite excuse for a human fucking being, I will see you again. I am not fucking done with you. OI!” Malcolm called down the corridor. Glenn was walking by and stopped. “GLENN, MATE! Git this fucker out of my sight.”

“What did the lad do?” The Fourth Sector guru walked over, seeing Frank curled up in agony. He groaned loudly and Malcolm wiped his bloody nose with a sleeve.

“He can fuckin’ tell you. Fuckin’ bastard shitcunt.” The grey man turned to you, who was standing behind him. You were still panting, still a little scared of the man on the floor. Malcolm moved to put a hand on your shoulder, but realised both were bloody. “You alrigh’, luv?”

“I-I think so..”

“He didn’ injure ya too badly, did he?”

“No. Frank-”

“Don’t use his real name.” Malcolm turned to see Glenn dragging Frank away. “He’s a mad fucker, drinking during the day. Christ, kids these days.”

“The bastard.. kept flirting with me, despite me saying no.” You slowly told Malcolm. He nodded, and then noticed his sleeve was spreading blood everywhere.

“Let’s head to the sick bay. ’M sure the doctor can patch me up there. Come with me. My report for fuckin’ Nicola Murray can wait.”

“Of course, sir.” He set off, with you following.

—–

“There’s nobody fuckin’ here, what kind of a shithole sick bay is this?” Malcolm growled as you two stood inside the sick bay, having waited a couple of minutes. He was sitting on a bed, suitcase and documents on the bedside table. You paced around foot of the bed, until you sighed. “Stay here luv, I can go fucking call some shithead to help us.”

“No, it’s okay. I can do this.” You moved to the cupboards where you began to look for bandages to compress some wounds Malcolm had acquired.

“You sure, luv?” He plucked another tissue to wipe away from blood from his nose.

“It’s fine. Just need some bandages, ice packs and tissues. Oh, and a few muscle soothing lotions, I guess..” You opened the mini-fridge and grabbed a few ice packs.

“’M guessing you’ve been wanting to play Doctors and Nurses on me for a while now, ain'tcha?” Malcolm teased. You froze and choked out a laugh.

“Nah, I– I just want to help, that’s all.”

“Keep believing that, hun.” Malcolm chuckled, amused by your antics. “Sorry, forget I said that.”

“It’s not a problem!” You relaxed your shoulders, seeing that he was joking. With the items in hand, you headed over to the bed to help your senior. “Sir, we’re going to have to.. um..”

“Take off my clothes? Now you’re really gittin’ into it.” Malcolm winked. “Jus’ call me Malcolm. Now, hold my nose. Don’ hesitate, otherwise the blood’ll continue. I’ll take off my shit.” With a bit of care, you were holding onto his nose as Malcolm peeled off his blazer, his tie, and then his dress shirt. He winced in pain slightly. The heat rushed to your face as he undid the buttons, growling over the fact that he could not see them. All that remained was his undershirt, which was fine for now. Malcolm regrabbed his nose, and clicked his tongue once he saw the purple bruises on his arms.

“Do they hurt a lot?” You asked as you washed your hands. He hummed in thought as you dried them and then sat down in front of him on a stool to apply the muscle cream.

“Not a lot when they’re not moving.” Malcolm sighed. The two of you sat in silence as you opened the cream and squeezed a generous amount onto one of your hands. You closed the bottle and began to massage the bruises and surrounding areas. He let out a small sigh of contentment. As he closed his eyes, you cheekily grabbed an ice pack and pressed it against his arm. His eyes shot open and he froze up on the spot as you laughed, taking it away. “You fucker. Had you have done that in a different situation, you’d be dead.”

“I know~” You continued to massage the cream into his arms, having some small chat with him about his plans for the day. You gave some suggestions as he sighed about what he was meant to be doing at the moment. By the time you were bandaging him up, compressing the wounds to help with the pain. You pressed some ice packs to his arms and pushed him down onto the bed.

“Hey, I have work to do. I can’t be stuck here with fuckin ice blocks on my arms.”

“I’ll sit here and help with some of the work for a bit. How’s that?” He looked up at the ceiling, considering your offer. His eyelids mysteriously felt heavy.

“Yeah, sure..” Malcolm gave you the passcode to his phone and talked you through what to write on some of the documents, and to hold the phone to his ear as he yelled at the person on the receiving end. You smiled happily as you typed away on his laptop. You could have been at home watching Netflix and eating popcorn, but this.. this is what you have been wanting to do from the moment you saw Malcolm. You wouldn’t have had your night any other way.


End file.
